Voices for a Safer Polk Street: David

Meet David, one of the thousands of people who live, work, shop and bike along Polk Street. Here’s why he wants to see safety improvements on Polk Street.

I ride a city bike that carries my work tools and is the backbone of my business.  In other words, it replaces a car.

I have my own consulting business which provides technical support to attorneys.  My network consultancy involves hardware service and repair as well as systems management.  I have a performance “city cruiser” Electra Townie with saddlebag panniers which can hold laptops, spare parts and tech equipment.  I also use the Burley Travoy [trailer] to carry larger items such as workstations, monitors, printers and servers.  It’s remarkable how much I can carry!  And the amount of time I lose by not going as fast in a car is made up for by having zero parking time or costs.

Frequently I travel from North Beach to Civic Center and ride the Polk Street Corridor.  I also shop on Polk Street — my bicycles can carry a LOT of merchandise.  I visit restaurants, hardware stores and boutiques on Polk and also near Civic Center/North Beach.  Brownie’s hardware is my local go-to for any of my hardware needs.  I love Swan’s Oyster Depot and have been dragging my friends and family (often via taxi) there for years.  But to talk about all the places I visit on Polk Street would take pages.  This city is small and charming, for me cycling is a principally utilitarian activity.

If you also care about the future of Polk Street, like David, please be sure to let us know that you’ll be attending tomorrow’s upcoming MTA meetings about the future of this incredible commercial corridor. Details here.

Polk Street connects thousands of San Franciscans to work, school, the waterfront and thriving commercial corridors from Market Street to the Bay — on bikes. According to SFMTA bike counts, biking on Polk Street has grown dramatically from 2006 to 2011; annual counts indicate a 79% growth in biking at McAllister and Polk Street and a 66% growth at Polk and Sutter. Increasingly, people are biking and walking on Polk Street to visit the growing number of restaurants, shops, gyms, and bars on this corridor; according to the SFMTA’s Polk Street Intercept Survey, approximately 30% of respondents stated that they visited Polk Street to eat or shop (at the time of the survey).

But numbers only tell part of the story. To put a face on the many people who visit Polk Street by bicycle, we’ll be featuring profiles of members who have written in to support a bright future for Polk Street. Meet David, one of the thousands of people who live, work, shop and bike along Polk Street. Here’s why he wants to see safety improvements on Polk Street:

But numbers only tell part of the story. To put a face on the many people who visit Polk Street by bicycle, we’ll be featuring profiles of members who have written in to support a bright future for Polk Street. Want to share your own story about why Polk improvements are important to you? Email neal@sfbike.org.

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